Sr Program Manager - Special Projects

Sr. Program Manager, Special Projects

Status:
Exempt Department:
Program Management (Engineering) Position Summary

The Sr Program Manager will own and lead a portfolio of complex, high-impact programs that span multiple functions and product lines. They may include development and new product initiatives as well as operational, customer-facing, and cross-company programs. For each initiative, the Sr Program Manager generates a Project Charter to outline the expectations, resource requirements, and an expected return on investment, and maintains the schedules, budgets, and risk plans needed to deliver in accordance with established specifications, schedules, and budgets.

The Sr Program Manager will own high-profile, strategically significant programs, serving as the program interface to customers and senior stakeholders, and coordinating across engineering, product management, sales, supply chain, quality, manufacturing, and service to ensure programs meet cross-functional requirements and are successfully delivered. Reporting to the Sr Director of Program Management, the Sr Program Manager, leads program management best practices, and maintains oversight of schedules, budgets, and resource allocation across multiple concurrent programs.

The ideal candidate exhibits strong leadership, communication, and program management skills with a solid technical background, is comfortable representing the company to customers and external partners and is self-motivated and able to manage a complex portfolio in a fast-paced organization.

• Own and manage a portfolio of complex, cross-functional programs, including schedules, resourcing, budgets, risk management, and alignment with business objectives — spanning engineering and non-engineering initiatives.
• Lead and own high-visibility, high-stakes customer programs, including strategic customer commitments, special projects, and cross-company initiatives, serving as the accountable owner and program customer interface.
• Maintain multiple complex schedules for development projects, company programs, and new product platforms to meet the market needs as defined by the Product Management team.
• Develop and maintain program charters, scope documents, and business cases in collaboration with product management, engineering, and other functional leadership, clearly defining resource requirements, budget, and milestones.
• Coordinate across engineering, product, sales, supply chain, manufacturing, quality, and service to set priorities, allocate resources, and meet program commitments.
• Serve as a primary point of contact for customers, partners, and senior stakeholders on program status, proactively communicating progress, risks, and schedule changes to build and maintain confidence.
• Advise leadership and customers of program statuses on a regular basis, including risks, resource constraints, and trade-off recommendations.
• Manage complex customer relationships, including scope-change discussions, conflict resolution, and risk-mitigation strategies.
• Establish and maintain cross-functional communication so all parties stay informed and up to date on program schedules, and so critical-path items or delays are quickly identified.
• Proactively anticipate potential schedule delays and initiate cross-functional activities and contingency plans that recover the schedule.
• Mentor and guide junior program managers and contribute to program management best practices, standardized processes, and continuous-improvement initiatives.
• Manage competing priorities across the portfolio to ensure all critical deadlines are met.
• Develop our project management tools to improve the overall efficiency of our project development as well as better…